In the NBA, New York has a five-game winning streak after Carmelo Anthony provided 29 points and 16 rebounds in a 98-96 overtime win against Phoenix. Raymond Felton added 19 points for the Knicks.

Houston was a 104-92 winner at Boston behind Dwight Howard's 32 points and 11 rebounds. James Harden and Jeremy Lin each had 16 points as the Rockets moved into a tie for fifth with Golden State in the West.

The Portland Trail Blazers blew an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead last night before grabbing sole possession of the Western Conference lead, a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored seven of his 32 points in overtime as the Blazers downed the Los Angeles Clippers 116-112. Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews each added 19 points for the Blazers, who went 8-for-8 from the line in the final 65 seconds to secure their league-leading 24th win.

There were five games in the NBA on Christmas Day and it was not pretty for New York fans.

The first game of the day had the Bulls whipping the Nets 95-78 in Brooklyn, giving Chicago its first winning streak since mid-November. Taj Gibson finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Jimmy Butler chipped in 15 points. The Bulls trailed 50-49 early in the second half before Butler hit a 3-point to spark a 21-5 run that put Chicago in control the rest of the way.

In the NBA, Houston throttled Boston 109-85 as Terrence Jones scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds. James Harden chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and five assists to the Rockets' third straight win.

Elsewhere, Detroit had dropped seven straight to New York until Rodney Stuckey scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half of the Pistons' 92-86 victory over the Knicks. Josh Smith added 19 points for the Pistons, who opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 15-point lead.

In the NBA playoffs, Jeff Green scored 18 points and the Celtics cut the Knicks' lead to 3-2 with a 92-86 victory Wednesday night. Kevin Garnett netted 16 points. The Celtics will host Game 6 on Friday night, needing two victories to become the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Elsewhere, it was Indiana over Atlanta 106-83. Oklahoma City fell to Houston 107-100. James Harden scored 31 points. Kevin Durant had a game-high 36 points.